WBRZ - Baton Rouge

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) - A radical Muslim group that has killed nearly 500 people this year in Nigeria has struck again on Christmas Day.

It's claiming responsibility for an explosion that ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital, killing at least 25 people. The group also says it set off a bomb near a church in another city.

There were also attacks in the country's northeast.

In the last year, Boko Haram has carried out increasingly bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria.